Sermon Tone Analysis

That you may believe … and have Life" #3 - Gospel of John

John 1:10-11

 

John wrote this gospel for the express purpose of giving the world something to believe in and thus have LIFE.

John shared the heart of Jesus, who said, "I came that you might have life, abundant life."

John writes that we might know real life.

We've been introduced to the LOGOS, the WORD, God articulated.

Last week we found that in the midst of God's plan he chose to love people in a different way.

And he includes us in his process of salvation and work in the world.

The problem is that too often the Lord comes to us and relates to us, but we don't receive it.

Go with me to John 1:10-11

 

As you can see, we have the elements of the "Lord's Supper", "Communion" laid out before us.

I don't want this to just be something that we do.

I don't want this to be just a religious exercise.

But it must be an encounter with Jesus Christ.

As we said last week, God invites us to join him in his work, but before we leave and GO with him.

He comes to us.

How do you respond when Christ comes to you?

He comes to us and how do we respond.

Jesus, is Immanuel, God with us, God came down

 

So, … The Lord's Supper speaks to us.

It reminds us that Jesus Came to us and that we must respond to him.

In John 6 Jesus compares himself to the manna that God sent from Heaven.

The manna came every morning but the people had to receive it.

They had to receive it when God gave it and how God gave it.

He gave it every morning so they had to receive it every morning.

If they left it there and didn't receive what he gave then they would starve.

If they didn't receive it HOW he gave it, then it would spoil.

They couldn't take more than what they needed for the day.

When God comes he always has a timing and a plan and we have to receive it.

When we get into trouble as his people, is when we aren't willing to receive him when he comes and in the way he comes.

The obvious interpretation of this passage is that he came to his people, Israel, and they wouldn't receive him.

They wanted him to come as a King and rule Israel in power and might.

But they didn't like the way that he came.

He came as Savior, as Servant, as Sacrifice and that was not what they wanted so they didn't receive him

 

But as I read this, an application came to me, that was very disturbing.

Because I realized that we as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ are often guilty of the same thing.

Jesus comes to us and we will not receive him

When is the last time Jesus came to you?  Did you receive him?

Perhaps you haven't received him as Savior, though he has come to you …

 

But equally difficult to swallow is the truth that we, his own, his people, people who bear his name, Christian, he comes to us and we don't want to have any of it

 

1.

He Came …

Remember the word "came" in Greek means /"to come from one place to another, to come before the public"/

God leaves his place of separation, his lofty place, his hidden place, to reveal himself to us

 

Why does God COME to us?

How does he come to us?

 

  A.

Salvation

God comes to give us Salvation and we should receive him

Micah 7:7 shows Micah's response -

/"I will watch in hope for the Lord; i will wait for God my Savior …"/

But when Israel faced the promised land for the first time … they chose not to trust God's provision …

Deut.

32:15 says it this way /"(Israel) grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation"/

 

God comes to us for salvation.

We cannot provide the salvation for ourselves, but Jesus came to provide it for us …

But do we recognize him?

ILL> The story goes that there was a great flood and they were evacuating people.

This one guy said, "no thank you, I'll wait, the Lord will provide for me."

The waters began to rise and a large truck came down the street and offered to take them out, and the man said "no thank you, the Lord will provide"

Later the waters were as high as the windows, and they came in a boat, but he said "no, the Lord will provide"

 

Finally he climbed onto his roof to escape the waters … they came by in a helicopter and he said "no thank you, the Lord will provide"

Well, his faith was strong, but eventually, he drowned and arrived before God and asked "why didn't you come to me and save me?"

 

God said, "well I sent a truck, a boat, and a helicopter …"

 

  B.

Correction

He also comes to us for correction

Jeremiah 2:30 it Jeremiah says to the Lord of Israel, /"you have struck them down, but they felt no anguish; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction.

They have made their faces harder than rock; they refused to repent"/

 

But Jeremiah understood it in a way that Israel didn't in 10:23,24 /"I know, O Lord, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.

24 Correct me, Lord …"/

 

Ps 94:12 /Blessed is the man you discipline, O Lord, the man you teach from your law/

 

We get out of line, we think we know the right way, we wander off, the path, and the Lord, our good shepherd must correct us.

David understood the goodness of God's correction and said, "your rod and your staff comfort me" … whether for protection or correction, God's Rod and Staff and GOOD things … if we receive it

 

We can reject it or receive it

 

  C.

Revelation

God doesn't just leave us in the dark.

While we can never fully know him, God comes to us to reveal himself, his purposes and his ways

 

When God came to Noah he was making some amazing revelations

He was saying 1) I am aware of what's going on in the world

2) I hate wickedness and sin

3) I am aware and will reward your faithfulness and uprightness

Gideon met Christ while he was hiding in a wine press threshing wheat

And revealed

1) I'm aware of your situation

2) I hear the cries of my people

3) I can do more through you than you could imagine

4) I am patient with your unbelief

 

But God's revelation is never for information purposes alone … God's

Salvation provided

Correction directed

Revelation given

Are never for information alone … it is always an

 

  D.

Invitation

God always comes to us with an invitation

As someone estranged to him a slave to sin, it is an invitation to Salvation

We can receive it … recognizing that his kindness leads us to repentance or reject it because wide and easy is the road to destruction and many go that way, but narrow, difficult is the way that leads to salvation and few find it

 

As one of his sheep who has wandered off the path laid out by the shepherd, or acting wrongly toward another sheep, or refusing to graze where the Shepherd wants, we can receive the invitation to correction and return or we can stay misdirected, downcast, at odds with God

We can receive the Revelation of God and his ways and join him in his work